The Effect of Nutrition Education on Nutrition Knowledge in Low-Income Minority Adults

The availability of health and nutrition knowledge is disproportionately lower in minority populations compared to their majority counterparts despite minority populations at higher risk for health problems related to poor dietary habits from cultural and social influences. The purpose of this project was to determine if a weekly, culturally competent, group-delivered, nutrition education intervention affected nutrition knowledge in minority adults. The project was a smaller arm of the FABU study, which provided the education intervention. This study was guided by Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory and used a quantitative non-experimental design with a convenience sample of adults living in lower-income, minority adult housing. Data were collected at the beginning and end of the FABU project’s 8-week nutrition intervention, and nutrition knowledge was measured with the Nutrition Knowledge questionnaire. T-tests were used to determine differences in pre and post-nutrition knowledge (N=19). The key finding was that there was no significant change in nutrition knowledge (p=0.53) after participation in an 8-week, weekly, culturally competent nutrition education intervention. However, data collection, sample size, and nutrition education intervention were disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, a larger sample, longer time for implementing the intervention, and increased data collection points may provide different results

Perceptions, beliefs and behaviors of nutritional and supplementary practices in inflammatory bowel disease

© The Author(s) 2022. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Purpose: To gain insight into the behaviors, perceptions and beliefs of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients nutritional and supplementary practices and also to explore perceptions and behaviors in relation to anti-inflammatory supplementation with specific emphasis on Montmorency tart cherries. Methods: 80 IBD patients completed a 16-item close-ended questionnaire which was divided into three sub-sections: baseline/demographic characteristics, disease characteristics and dietary and supplementary perceptions, beliefs and behaviors. One-sample chi-square goodness of fit tests were used for each question and two-way Pearson chi-square tests of independence were used to undertake bivariate cross-tabulation comparisons to test differences in responses to each question between baseline/demographic variables. Results: The majority of participants (N = 40) did not follow a specific dietary pattern or use supplements (N = 56). Respondents also predominantly rated that diet can both positively (N = 66) and negatively (N = 68) influence IBD. In addition, participants rated that supplements can positively influence IBD (N = 65) and that lack of scientific evidence was the primary mechanism preventing them from utilizing supplements (N = 34). Finally, patients also strongly reported that they would be willing to take Montmorency tart cherry supplementation (N = 73). Conclusions: The disconnect between behavior and beliefs in both diet and supplementary practices, indicate that interventions designed to translate beliefs/knowledge into behaviors are warranted. There is also a necessity to undertake well-designed intervention trials examining the efficacy of food supplements, and with patient’s willingness to take Montmorency tart cherry, there is a strong rationale for future randomized trials examining the efficacy of tart cherry supplementation in IBD.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Effects of Montmorency tart cherry and blueberry juice on cardiometabolic outcomes in healthy individuals: protocol for a 3-arm placebo randomized controlled trial

© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Cardiometabolic disease is recognized as the predominant cause of global mortality and healthcare expenditure. Whilst pharmaceutical interventions are effective in the short term, their long-term efficacy remain equivocal and their associated side-effects are concerning. Owing to their high levels of anthocyanins, Montmorency tart cherries and blueberries have been cited as potentially important natural treatment/preventative modalities for cardiometabolic disease. This study proposed a randomized controlled trial, aims to test the effects of consumption of Montmorency tart cherry and blueberry juice on cardiometabolic outcomes compared to placebo. This 20-day, parallel, single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial will recruit 45 individuals, who will be assigned to receive 60 mL per day of either Montmorency tart cherry juice, blueberry juice or a cherry/blueberry flavoured placebo. The primary study outcome is the between-group difference in systolic blood pressure from baseline to post-intervention. Secondary outcome measures will be between-group differences in anthropometric, energy expenditure and substrate oxidation (during rest and physical activity), haematological, blood pressure/resting heart rate, psychological wellbeing and sleep efficacy indices. Statistical analysis will be conducted on an intention-to-treat basis. This study has been granted ethical approval by the University of Central Lancashire, Health Research Ethics Committee (ref: HEALTH 0016) and formally registered as a trial. Dissemination of the study findings from this investigation will be through publication in a leading peer-reviewed journal.Peer reviewe

Portrayals and perceptions of AI and why they matter

How researchers, communicators, policymakers, and publics talk about technology matters. Shared understandings about the nature, promise and risks of new technologies develop through the explicit or implicit stories that different groups tell about technology and its place in our lives. The AI narratives project – a joint endeavour by the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence and the Royal Society – has been examining which narratives currently influence public debates about AI, and how these portrayals might shape public perceptions of the capabilities, risks, and benefits of AI technologies. Many of the current ideas about AI technologies that are pervasive in public consciousness – typically that AI is an embodied, super-human intelligence – are shaped by hundreds of years of stories that people have told about humans and machines, and our places in the world. This cultural hinterland shapes how AI is portrayed in media, culture, and everyday discussion; it influences what societies find concerning – or exciting – about technological developments; and it affects how different publics relate to AI technologies. Building a well-founded public dialogue about AI technologies will be key to continued public confidence in the systems that deploy AI technologies, and to realising the benefits they promise across sectors. Since the launch of the machine learning project, the Royal Society has been creating spaces for public discussion about AI technologies, and their implications for society. In a series of four workshops, the Royal Society and Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence explored: which narratives around intelligent machines are most prevalent, and their historical roots; what can be learned from how the narrative around other complex, new technologies developed, and the impact of these; how narratives are shaping the development of AI, and the role of arts and media in this process; and the implications of current AI narratives for researchers and communicators. The report brings together the conclusions of these workshops, and is for anyone interested in how AI is portrayed and perceived.Drs Cave, Dihal, and Dillon are funded by a Leverhulme Trust Research Centre Grant awarded to the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence. Dr Singler was funded by a Templeton World Charitable Foundation grant during the course of the AI narratives project, awarded to the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, St Edmund's College, Cambridge

Text messaging and brief phone calls for weight loss in overweight and obese English- and Spanish-speaking adults: A 1-year, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND:Weight loss interventions based solely on text messaging (short message service [SMS]) have been shown to be modestly effective for short periods of time and in some populations, but limited evidence is available for positive longer-term outcomes and for efficacy in Hispanic populations. Also, little is known about the comparative efficacy of weight loss interventions that use SMS coupled with brief, technology-mediated contact with health coaches, an important issue when considering the scalability and cost of interventions. We examined the efficacy of a 1-year intervention designed to reduce weight among overweight and obese English- and Spanish-speaking adults via SMS alone (ConTxt) or in combination with brief, monthly health-coaching calls. ConTxt offered 2-4 SMS/day that were personalized, tailored, and interactive. Content was theory- and evidence-based and focused on reducing energy intake and increasing energy expenditure. Monthly health-coaching calls (5-10 minutes' duration) focused on goal-setting, identifying barriers to achieving goals, and self-monitoring. METHODS AND FINDINGS:English- and Spanish-speaking adults were recruited from October 2011 to March 2013. A total of 298 overweight (body mass index [BMI] 27.0 to 39.9 kg/m2) adults (aged 21-60 years; 77% female; 41% Hispanic; 21% primarily Spanish speaking; 44% college graduates or higher; 22% unemployed) were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either ConTxt only (n = 101), ConTxt plus health-coaching calls (n = 96), or standard print materials on weight reduction (control group, n = 101). We used computer-based permuted-block randomization with block sizes of three or six, stratified by sex and Spanish-speaking status. Participants, study staff, and investigators were masked until the intervention was assigned. The primary outcome was objectively measured percent of weight loss from baseline at 12 months. Differences between groups were evaluated using linear mixed-effects regression within an intention-to-treat framework. A total of 261 (87.2%) and 253 (84.9%) participants completed 6- and 12-month visits, respectively. Loss to follow-up did not differ by study group. Mean (95% confidence intervals [CIs]) percent weight loss at 12 months was -0.61 (-1.99 to 0.77) in the control group, -1.68 (-3.08 to -0.27) in ConTxt only, and -3.63 (-5.05 to -2.81) in ConTxt plus health-coaching calls. At 12 months, mean (95% CI) percent weight loss, adjusted for baseline BMI, was significantly different between ConTxt plus health-coaching calls and the control group (-3.0 [-4.99 to -1.04], p = 0.003) but not between the ConTxt-only and the control group (-1.07 [-3.05 to 0.92], p = 0.291). Differences between ConTxt plus health-coaching calls and ConTxt only were not significant (-1.95 [-3.96 to 0.06], p = 0.057). These findings were consistent across other weight-related secondary outcomes, including changes in absolute weight, BMI, and percent body fat at 12 months. Exploratory subgroup analyses suggested that Spanish speakers responded more favorably to ConTxt plus health-coaching calls than English speakers (Spanish contrast: -7.90 [-11.94 to -3.86], p < 0.001; English contrast: -1.82 [-4.03 to 0.39], p = 0.107). Limitations include the unblinded delivery of the intervention and recruitment of a predominantly female sample from a single site. CONCLUSIONS:A 1-year intervention that delivered theory- and evidence-based weight loss content via daily personalized, tailored, and interactive SMS was most effective when combined with brief, monthly phone calls. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01171586

Damage function for historic paper. Part I: Fitness for use

Background In heritage science literature and in preventive conservation practice, damage functions are used to model material behaviour and specifically damage (unacceptable change), as a result of the presence of a stressor over time. For such functions to be of use in the context of collection management, it is important to define a range of parameters, such as who the stakeholders are (e.g. the public, curators, researchers), the mode of use (e.g. display, storage, manual handling), the long-term planning horizon (i.e. when in the future it is deemed acceptable for an item to become damaged or unfit for use), and what the threshold of damage is, i.e. extent of physical change assessed as damage. Results In this paper, we explore the threshold of fitness for use for archival and library paper documents used for display or reading in the context of access in reading rooms by the general public. Change is considered in the context of discolouration and mechanical deterioration such as tears and missing pieces: forms of physical deterioration that accumulate with time in libraries and archives. We also explore whether the threshold fitness for use is defined differently for objects perceived to be of different value, and for different modes of use. The data were collected in a series of fitness-for-use workshops carried out with readers/visitors in heritage institutions using principles of Design of Experiments. Conclusions The results show that when no particular value is pre-assigned to an archival or library document, missing pieces influenced readers/visitors’ subjective judgements of fitness-for-use to a greater extent than did discolouration and tears (which had little or no influence). This finding was most apparent in the display context in comparison to the reading room context. The finding also best applied when readers/visitors were not given a value scenario (in comparison to when they were asked to think about the document having personal or historic value). It can be estimated that, in general, items become unfit when text is evidently missing. However, if the visitor/reader is prompted to think of a document in terms of its historic value, then change in a document has little impact on fitness for use

Damage function for historic paper. Part III: Isochrones and demography of collections

Background: In the context of evidence-based management of historic collections, a damage function combines aspects of material degradation, use, and consideration of material attributes that are important for satisfactory extraction of benefits from user interaction with heritage. In libraries and archives, it has been shown that users (readers and visitors) are mainly concerned with loss of textual information, which could lead to degradation being described as unacceptable, at which an object might become unfit for use and therefore damaged. The contribution explores the development of the damage function for historic paper based on data available in the literature. Results: We have modelled the dose–response function taking into account 121 paper degradation experiments with known T, RH of the environment, and pH of paper. The function is based on the Arrhenius equation and published water absorption isotherm functions for paper. New isoperm plots have been calculated and isochrones have been developed. These are plots linking points of equal expected ‘lifetime’, i.e. time until an object is expected to reach the state of threshold fitness-for-use. We also modelled demographic curves for a well-characterised research collection of historic papers, exploring the loss of fitness for use with time. Conclusions: The new tools enable us to evaluate scenarios of management of the storage environment as well as levels of access, for different types of library and archival paper. In addition, the costs and benefits of conservation interventions can be evaluated. The limitations of the function are the context of use (dark storage and reading), exclusive focus on the properties of an average paper type, and de-prioritised effect of pollutants; however, the latter can be considered separately. This work also demonstrates that transparent and publically accountable collection management decisions can be informed, and challenged by, effective interaction with a variety of stakeholders including the lay public

Damage Function for Historic Paper: Part II

Background As a result of use of library and archival documents, defined as reading with handling in the context of general access, mechanical degradation (wear and tear) accumulates. In contrast to chemical degradation of paper, the accumulation of wear and tear is less well studied. Previous work explored the threshold of mechanical degradation at which a paper document is no longer considered to be fit for the purpose of use by a reader, while in this paper we explore the rate of accumulation of such damage in the context of object handling. Results The degree of polymerisation (DP) of historic paper of European origin from mid-19th–mid-20th Century was shown to affect the rate of accumulation of wear and tear. While at DP > 800, this accumulation no longer depends on the number of handlings (the process is random), a wear-out function could be developed for documents with DP between 300 and 800. For objects with DP < 300, one large missing piece (i.e. such that contains text) developed on average with each instance of handling, which is why we propose this DP value as a threshold value for safe handling. Conclusions The developed model of accumulation of large missing pieces per number of handlings of a document depending on DP, enables us to calculate the time required for an object to become unfit for use by readers in the context of general access. In the context of the average frequency of document use at The UK National Archives (Kew), this period is 60 years for the category of papers with DP 300, and 450 years for papers with DP 500. At higher DP values, this period of time increases beyond the long-term planning horizon of 500 years, leading to the conclusion that for such papers, accumulation of wear and tear is not a significant collection management concern